Astronomers find newborn stars at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy

Astronomers find newborn stars at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy

A team of Brazilian astronomers led by Denilso Camargo of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul have made a remarkable discovery, a cluster of stars forming on the very edge of the Milky Way galaxy. This is the first time astronomers have found stars being…

New Horizons spots small moons orbiting Pluto

New Horizons spots small moons orbiting Pluto

Exactly 85 years after Clyde Tombaugh’s historic discovery of Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft set to encounter the icy dwarf planet this summer is providing its first views of the small moons orbiting Pluto. The moons Nix and Hydra are visible in a series of im

An infrared atlas of interacting galaxies

An infrared atlas of interacting galaxies

Most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have been influenced by an interaction with another galaxy at some time in their past. Interactions between galaxies can trigger an increase in star-formation activity as well an increased level of activity around the nuclear

Swarm of scientific microprobes to the clouds of Jupiter in 2030

Swarm of scientific microprobes to the clouds of Jupiter in 2030

A swarm of tiny probes each equipped with a different sensor could be fired into the clouds of Jupiter and grab data as they fall before burning up in the gas giant planet's atmosphere, according to a recently presented concept in International Journal of Space Scie

Hubble captures the Pillars of Creation twenty years on

Hubble captures the Pillars of Creation twenty years on

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured many breathtaking images of the Universe, but one snapshot stands out from the rest: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation.In 1995 Hubble’s iconic image revealed never-before-seen details in the giant columns

NASA observatories take an unprecedented look into superstar Eta Carinae

NASA observatories take an unprecedented look into superstar Eta Carinae

Eta Carinae, the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10 000 light-years of Earth, is known for its surprising behavior, erupting twice in the 19th century for reasons scientists still don't understand.A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA's Go

Huge new astronomy database now available to the public

Huge new astronomy database now available to the public

Penn State University astronomers are among the scientists of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) who this week are releasing to the public a massive collection of new information about the universe. "This set of observations is one of the largest astronomical data

Hubble captures the sharpest ever view of neighbouring Andromeda galaxy

Hubble captures the sharpest ever view of neighbouring Andromeda galaxy

Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest and biggest image ever taken of the Andromeda galaxy, known as Messier 31. The enormous image is the biggest Hubble image ever released and shows over 100 million stars and thousands of star clusters embedded in a

Curiosity rover finds active, ancient organic chemistry on Mars

Curiosity rover finds active, ancient organic chemistry on Mars

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory’s drill."This temporary increase in meth